site.btaToday's Observances: October 7-8

October 7

The world:

- World Day for Decent Work.

On this date in Bulgarian history:

1919: Coalition government of Bulgarian National Agrarian Union, Popular Party and Progressive Liberal Party, headed by Aleksandar Stamboliyski, takes office.

1990: First Bulgarian-US Trade Agreement, providing for reciprocal most favoured nation status, is signed in Washington, D.C.

1991: Treaty of Friendship, Good-Neighbourliness, Cooperation and Security between Bulgaria and Greece is signed in Sofia by Prime Ministers Dimitar Popov and Konstantinos Mitsotakis (in force as from May 21, 1992).

October 8

On this date in Bulgarian history:

927: Byzantine Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos and Bulgarian Tsar Peter I conclude a peace treaty, under which the Byzantine Empire formally recognizes the Bulgarian ruler's title of tsar (equivalent to emperor) and undertakes to pay an annual tribute to the Bulgarians, while the Patriarchate of Constantinople recognizes the autocephalous status of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and acknowledges it as a patriarchate. On the same day in Constantinople, Tsar Peter I is solemnly married to Romanos's granddaughter, Princess Maria (renamed Irene, i.e. "peace", to signify the new era in Bulgarian-Byzantine relations).

1879: Slovenian linguist Anton Bezensek invents the Bulgarian shorthand system.

1944: The Bulgarian 1st Army starts combat operations against Nazi Germany in Yugoslavia.

1960: Diplomatic relations established with Cuba.

1999: The Gabrovo-Sevlievo fibre-optic trunk line (Central Bulgaria) is commissioned.

2003: The US House of Representatives adopts a resolution marking the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations with Bulgaria.

2003: The BTA National Press Club is inaugurated at the news agency's headquarters in Sofia.